Brand Extension Marketing Plan Essay

1.0 Executive Summary Wii is a for-profit organization already offering numerous video games targeted at many different segments of the market in different countries around the world. Wii is developing a new game, Wingo, with an extended service plan for any issues identified while playing the new game. Wingo is bingo for the Wii. Customers will be able to play four players at a time utilizing the two remotes included with the purchase of the Wii system and the two extra remotes that are included when the customer purchases the new game Wingo. The extended service plan will allow customers to first have their game repaired. If the issue is not resolved with repair, the customer will have their game replaced with a new game that has been reviewed and analyzed by tech support to ensure no issues arise. Wingo is targeting the market that consists of residents at assisted living and long-term care facilities, grandparents, and parents. Many individuals in these target markets love to play bingo making Wingo a perfect game for the targeted market. Wingo is a game for grandparents and parents to purchase to have fun with peers as well as their grandchildren and children. Another benefit of Wingo is the increased cognitive use, which is imperative for older adults to utilize as they age to maintain memory. Wingo will provide an easy to use format for those not familiar with playing video games, which is the majority of the target market. The easy to use format will allow players to begin playing without contacting their grandchildren for assistance. The game will also offer cognitive stimulation to assist in maintaining memory. Cognitive stimulation is crucial to all age groups to ensure healthy brain activity. Excellent customer service is required to obtain and retain a loyal customer base, which is also where the extended service plan comes into play because it provides customers with peace of mind knowing that their purchase will be repaired or replaced if any issues arise. Customer needs will be listened to and implemented into to the product to ensure our customers are receiving a product that focuses on customer needs/wants. On a national level, Wingo marketing will consist of flyers, posters, and commercials displaying the social interactions and fun to be had from playing the game. On a global level, the same advertising methods will be used. However, the advertising devices will display different languages, depending on the country where displayed, to communicate the benefits of the game. The global advertising will also take into consideration the different cultural aspects of the country to ensure no disrespect is shown and no offense is taken from the message being sent. 2.0 SITUATION ANALYSIS Wii is entering its fifth year of operation. Its products have been well received by consumers, and marketing Wingo and its extended service plan will be the main focus to the growth of brand and product as well as the sustainability and expansion of the customer base. Wii offers several different genres of games, serving the growing serious gaming industry. 2.1 Market Summary * The target market for Wingo is assisted living and long-term care facilities, grandparents, and parents. Wingo is bingo for the Wii and many individuals in these target markets love to play bingo. By focusing on these target groups, Wingo will be thought of as a game for grandparents and parents to purchase have fun with peers as well as their grandchildren and children. * Projections of growth for this product are that it will become popular within assisted living and long-term care facilities that word of mouth will assist in marketing the product to other groups. This will increase the profits for Wii, allowing the company to gain back its market shares that it lost recently plus more. 2.1.1 Market Demographics * Demographics – Ages 45-75 is the main target market. Most residents of long-term care facilities are between the ages 65-75. Those between ages 45-65 are grandparents purchasing the game in hopes of spending quality time with their grandchildren by playing the game. * Geographics – Wingo’s target area will be the major countries already marketing the Wii game system. These include Japan, Europe, and North America. * Users enjoy the connection made among them and other users while playing the game. Users enjoy spending time with their grandchildren during game time. * The target markets are classified as Thinkers and Survivors. The Thinkers are seeking a game that provides quality and serves a purpose. The Survivors are seeking a brand they can remain loyal to and suggest to their peers and families. 2.1.2 Market Needs * Ease of use – The customers can confuse easily and need a game easy to use without having to ask the younger generation for assistance to operate. * Cognitive stimulation – The customers need their brain stimulated to maintain memory. * Customer service – Excellent service is required to develop a maintainable business that possesses a loyal customer base. 2.1.3 Market Trends * Wingo will distinguish itself by marketing a product not previously available to gamers and other consumers. The market segment for this product is growing at a tremendous rate due to the baby boomer generation aging. Therefore, the marketing is aimed at this segment. * Wingo will also distinguish itself by offering the expanded service plan available with the purchase of only this game. Repair service of the game will allow the consumer to have peace of mind knowing that, should an issue arise, their game will either be fixed or replaced at no additional charge. Saving money in today’s economy is extremely important to all consumers. * Another growing trend for this market is serious gaming, where the players learn skills and competencies that can be then be used in â€Å"real† world situations. Specific goals are set within the game to be reached by the gamer; which fosters incentive to learn, offers instant feedback, encourages skills development, and assists with knowledge transfer. Grandparents and parents are always looking for ways their grandchildren and children can learn new skills utilizing a fun and entertaining venue. 2.1.4 Market Growth * With the Wii system sales declining 9.7% from July 1, 2011 through June 20, 2012, the market is diminishing. Wingo and its extended service plan will, with any luck, bring the sales up for the Wii systems. * The growth potential is there, with the baby boomer generation aging and needing to ensure that they live vibrant, active lives; even once they are physician recommended for assisted living and long-term care facilities. Assisted living and long-term care facilities are required by State and Federal regulations to ensure that all residents remain active; whether with board games, memory games, or exercise. * The diminishing market will need to have a powerful message sent. Iterating to younger generations that it’s not too late to have fun with grandma and grandpa; and to the older generations that it’s not too late for them to have fun. 2.2 SWOT 2.2.1 Strengths – Wii’s reputation among consumers. Wii’s pricing effectiveness of providing lower cost products compared to competitors. Wii’s service and product quality compared to competitors. 2.2.2 Weaknesses – Wii’s diminishing market share. Wii’s lack of effective innovation and the cause of its diminishing market share. Due to their decline in sales over the past year, Wii lacks available capital. 2.2.3 Opportunities – Wii provides similar products compared to competitors at a lower cost. Wii customized the extended service plan for the Wingo game. Wii introduced a new game to a new market. 2.2.4 Threats – Economic depression causes businesses and consumers to cut back on entertainment expenses. Competitor develops a similar game with improved technologic advances. Legislation to reduce number of items appropriate for assisted living and long-term care residents’ activities. 2.3 Competition * There are two main competitors of Wii products. Both are gaining market shares by introducing new technological accessories, including allowing the player to be the remote and better graphics. * Customers will prefer the Wii’s product because of the lower costs of similar products and the extended service plan included with Wingo. * Wingo will be offered to select assisted living and long-term care facilities at an even lower price than retail price for a limited time to help get the word out. * Xbox 360 offers the Kinect that allows players to be the remote. Kinect is offered at a price of $109.95. The Kinect is offered around the world at Walmart, K-Mart, Target, Shopko, RadioShack, and GameStop to name a few. The Xbox Kinect is advertised to people of all ages looking for fun and exciting ways to exercise. 2.4 Product Offering * Wingo will provide consumers with a fun and exciting way to spend time with family while building cognitive skills and abilities that can be utilized in everyday life. Wingo’s extended service plan provides peace of mind to the consumer knowing that their investment is protected. * Wingo is the name chosen for the new game because it is short and catchy. Essentially, the ‘b’ in bingo is replaced with the ‘w’ from Wii. Wingo will be positioned as an affordable entertainment and enhances cognitive skills for all ages. 2.5 Keys to Success The keys to success are designing and producing a product that meets market demand. In addition, absolute customer satisfaction is a must that Wii needs to ensure. Profitability and sustainability will be inevitable if these keys to success are met. 2.6 Critical Issues * Establish Wingo as the game of choice for assisted living and long-term care residents. * Aim for controlled growth that commands that expenses for payroll will never surpass the revenue. This will assist shielding against recessions. * Wingo is in the introduction phase of its life-cycle because it has just been introduced to the market. 3.0 MARKETING STRATEGY The key to the marketing strategy is focusing on the markets residing in assisted living and long-term care facilities. Wii can cover approximately 50% of this market because it produces other products geared toward the families and friends of each segment. 3.1 Mission * Nintendo, producer of Wii and all its games, holds a strong commitment to constructing and marketing the greatest products and services for support. It is vital not only to offer products of the utmost quality, but to give every customer our attention, and show them consideration and respect during each encounter. * The value proposition is constantly improving products and services by listening closely to our customers’ wants and needs. 3.2 Marketing Objectives * Identify the benefits to the target market from using the product and listen to their wants and needs for any improvements. * Obtain and continue a strong, positive growth each quarter * Accomplish a continual rise in market penetration * Market to successful assisted living and long-term care facilities looking to offer a different and exciting activity to their residents * Emails, mail, and phone calls to assisted living and long-term care facilities explaining the benefits of using our product * Achieve a market share of at least 25% 3.3 Financial Objectives: Skip this section for now. You will do this later. 3.4 Target Markets * The specific target markets for Wingo are assisted living and long-term care facilities’ residents. The niche market will be the residents of these facilities that need increased cognitive therapy. Another niche market for Wingo will be those residents that are unable to pay outright for the product by offering a payment plan to those residents. * The assisted living and long-term care facilities are the optimal target markets because the majority of their residents are in need of cognitive therapy. The facility could purchase the product for all residents to use during a scheduled gathering for residents. 3.5 Positioning * The needs of Wingo’s target market include improved cognition, more social interaction, more exercise, and more fun. Wingo will help to improve upon all of these needs. There is increasing evidence that suggests video games are beneficial. In September 2009 a study was published suggestive of increased brain efficiency from playing certain video games. According to Mary Ann Liebert, Inc./Genetic Engineering News, recent research proves that video games provide vital benefits for olders adults by offering cognitive stimulation and a basis for social interaction, exercise, and fun. * The key difference of Wingo from competitors’ video games is that Wingo is the only video game that is based off of the most popular game played by older adults in assisted living and long-term care facilities, bingo. The most distinguishing feature of Wingo is the game’s ability to allow up to eight players to play at one time or to allow four players to play up to two Wingo cards e ach at the same time.

Analysis of “The School of Athens” by Raphael Essay

Raphael, the youngest of the three great artists who defined the Italian High Renaissance, was born in the small yet artistically significant Central Italian city of Urbino. It seems that Raphael attained his natural gift of creativity from his father who was a poet and a painter. Orphaned at an early age, Raphael was sent to be an apprentice to the distinguished painter Perugino, and by the tender age of twenty-one had flourished into an impeccable artist with talent surpassing that of his mentor. Over the course of the next four years, Raphael lived and worked in Florence alongside Leonardo DaVinci and Michelangelo. Raphael could not escape the imminent influence of these two legendary artists. By 1508, Raphael’s reputation had already been established and at the age of twenty-five he was summoned by Pope Julius II to decorate the walls of the papal apartments in the Vatican Palace, which happened to be just steps away from where Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling was in progress. This commission allowed for the creation of the world-renowned fresco titled, The School of Athens. This work is revered as one of Raphael’s greatest achievements and possibly the greatest achievement of the High Renaissance period. This commission would bring Raphael deserved recognition and notoriety and ultimately led to him becoming the leading painter in all of Rome. The School of Athens is a painting of world-renowned stature because of its impeccable harmony, which was characteristic of Raphael’s work. In order to understand the influence of this piece one must recognize Raphael’s overall achievement here: he successfully created a scene of nearly sixty figures, each individual and alive, that yet combines in a design that is harmonious, clear, and befitting the classic importance and dignity of its subject. Harmony is created in part by the use of contrasting elements. Most obvious of these elements would be the differing philosophical ideas of the two principal characters, Plato and Aristotle. Plato is shown pointing upward suggesting his emphasis on the existence of a spiritual realm beyond the physical world. The gesture is a reference to, â€Å"Plato’s interest in the world of ideas, a meta-world that exists beyond our comprehension of reality† (Crenshaw 126). On the other hand, Aristotle gestures his hand downward stressing his belief that the physical world is the basis of all knowledge and understanding. Plato carries the Timaeus, one of his dialogues that explains his belief in the reality of a world of ideal forms which exists beyond the material universe. Aristotle is shown holding his famous Niomachian Ethics that illustrates his belief that knowledge is only gained through empirical observation and experience of the material world. The two figures are further differentiated by their sense of movement and their age. Plato appears to be an older gentleman who seems to be moving with an air of patience and grace while Aristotle is a younger man who se ems to be moving forward with a greater sense of urgency and energy. The picture is then divided neatly in half, the idealists or â€Å"thinkers who concerned themselves with ideas and abstract concepts† (Crenshaw 126) are on the left side with Plato. To the left of Plato in a dark green robe, Socrates can be seen engaging in an argument amongst a circle of his disciples enumerating points on his fingers, â€Å"in a classic visualization of the Socratic argumentation technique† (Crenshaw 126). Socrates was an influential and revolutionary Grecian philosopher whose work was meant to show how argument, debate, and discussion could help man to understand and resolve difficult issues. Although the notion that this figure is indeed Socrates has been widely accepted for generations, a new idea has recently emerged among art historians. These historians speculate that Socrates is actually the figure shown sprawled about on the steps directly in front of Plato and Aristotle. Some interesting theories support their argument. The first point they make states that, â€Å"compared to most of Raphael’s figures who are rather richly dressed, this man, with his simple, bare-shouldered himation, gives the impression of far more modest tastes. He also seems to have come from an earlier era† (Bell 641). These obvious features accurately describe Socrates. Another important point to note would be the placement of this figure. One cannot deny that the figure is in a place of specific significance and attention. Our eye is drawn first to the central figures, Plato and Aristotle, and secondly to the figure lying on the steps in front of them. The new identification of Socrates suggested here, â€Å"places the three most important philosophers in the center of the School of Athens, where they are depicted without any intervening figures between them† (Bell 641). This strategic placement allows for a natural emphasis on the three most influential philosophers of all time. This new identification becomes problematic when one considers the fact that for most of history, this figure on the steps has been identified as Diogenes the Cynic. Diogenes’ philosophy encouraged men to live a life of simplicity and to reje ct all forms of luxury. He sought to expose the falsity of most conventional standards set by society. While Diogenes was a philosopher of significant stature he does not measure up to the over arching influence of the famed Socrates. This figure has been widely accepted as Diogenes because of his apparent demeanor and clothing. The figure is shown in what some refer to as rags, which supports the argument that this character is Diogenes. Another element that supports this man being Diogenes is the way the character interacts with the philosophers around him. He appears to be withdrawn from the rest of the group, which was characteristic of Diogenes, who was considered by most to be an individual who lived on the fringes of society. Although this figure could possibly be Diogenes, I conclude that the new identification suggesting that this figure is actually Socrates proves more convincing. If the figure on the steps is Socrates, where is Diogenes? Some art historians have theorized that Diogenes is the man standing alone under the statue of the God Minerva. No other philosopher appears so unkempt and disheveled, almost shunned by his fellow Athenians. Adding further evidence to this theory, â€Å"it would be appropriate to portray Diogenes as a very old man, dressed in only a simple red-brown cloak, which, according to Laertius, he wore everywhere† (Bell 643). In my opinion, I would argue that this new identification is indeed more valid than the previously accepted version. The fact that not all of these figures have been correctly identified or even identified at all, keep art historians interested in the work. Perhaps Raphael intentionally left the identities of these two figures unexplained to spark the viewer’s curiosity. In the lower left foreground Pythagoras is shown â€Å"illustrating his musical theorem† (Crenshaw 126) to a group of his students. Shown leaning on a block in the foreground is the pre-Socratic philosopher Heraclitus, who claimed that understanding is realized through introspection. Heraclitus seems to be lost in thought and appears to be uninterested in interacting with the other figur es surrounding him. This figure is thought to be a portrait of Michelangelo therefore portraying him as a man of little social capability. Raphael is possibly also contrasting himself to Michelangelo suggesting that Michelangelo is a man of quiet introspection while he is a sociable man who is well liked by all. The realists or Aristotelians are on the right side with Aristotle. Further emphasizing their realist ideals the right side of the painting is shown under the statue of Minerva, the goddess of wisdom and the sense of sight (Crenshaw 126). Shown in the lower left foreground is Euclid, the Greek mathematician, and his four students absorbed in their mathematical demonstration. Euclid is remembered as the â€Å"Father of Geometry†. He also researched and closely observed optics and perspective (Janes 57). Euclid resembles the influential architect Bramante, who was a friend of Raphael. Zoroaster and Ptolemy are shown facing opposite one another directly above Euclid. Zoroaster, a philosopher of ancient Persia, shown here holding a celestial globe is discussing with Ptolemy, the Greek geographer who believed that the earth was the center of the universe, holds a terrestrial globe (Janes 57). Directly above Ptolemy and Zoroaster is a figure standing alone wrapped up in his cloak and his thoughts. This figure is the lawgiver Solon. Tucked into the right corner of the composition is Raphael’s teacher Perugino. By placing Perugino in the composition, Raphael is showing his deep respect for his mentor and thanking him for sharing his knowledge. The figure next to Sodoma is actually a self-portrait of Raphael himself. By placing himself along with other artists in the scene, â€Å"Raphael asserts that art is, in fact, an intellectual enterprise — a form of study and enquiry, n ot merely a manual activity† (Crenshaw 126). It is also no coincidence that Raphael places himself on the Aristotelian side, among philosophers who work from observation. The School of Athens is considered to be one of the most important achievements of the High Renaissance. This work exemplifies the High Renaissance in the graceful movements and gestures of the figures. All the figures appear to be moving and actively interacting with one another. The figures are also very large in scale and fully idealized in form. The fact that this gathering is completely idealized is also characteristic of the High Renaissance. The philosophers come from a wide range of times and places who could not have possibly met or interacted with one another. The composition displays the gathering under an architectural framework that is reminiscent of the Italian Renaissance architect Bramante’s plan for the New St. Peters. During the early 16th century, architecture was inspired by the grandiosity and monumentality of ancient Roman building s such as the Coliseum in Rome. The main architectural element portrayed in the fresco is executed in the classic Doric style, characterized by simplicity and minimalism of decoration. The architectural framework also creates a sense of symmetry and special depth. All of the elements stated above combine to make this work a masterpiece of the High Renaissance. The School of Athens is undoubtedly a work of art that will continue to be viewed as an outstanding achievement of the High Renaissance, and the most impeccable work produced by the famous Raphael. Art historians will continue to research the work and perhaps uncover the philosophers depicted whose identities have yet to be revealed. The legacy of this pià ©ce de rà ©sistance lives on.

Amateur radio

Amateur radio   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  If regular communications were knocked out, Amateur Radio would be there to step in! Amateur Radio connects people in times of need during emergencies.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  To start one’s adventure into Amateur Radio, one needs to obtain a license. There is a test required by the FCC in order to obtain a license which one needs to operate an Amateur Radio (H10). Only licensed amateurs can operate an Amateur Radio station (BARTLETT). Amateurs have to go through the different levels of licenses, which go from technician to general then to extra (HARING). With each step, they get more privilages and frequencies. Past exam questions included equipment, regulations, and morse code, all of which were dropped (HAMILTON). Now Amateur Radio is growing at a rate of 10% a year (HAMILTON). Amateur radio is growing with the new generation as well. â€Å"Amateur Radio not just meant for old folks. The Amateur Community want to see a new g eneration of men and women try Amateur Radio,† said Don Montgomery (CONRAD). Test and study materials add up to usually $40 (H11).   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Amateur Radio is getting more and more in-sync with new technology and computers. Automatic Packet Reporting System (APRS) uses Global Positioning System with Amateur Radio to remotely track Amateurs’ movements and reports them to the APRS website (H11). All one needs to use APRS is a GPS and an Amateur Radio (H11). Anyone can go online to the APRS website to see where amateurs are at, anytime of the day. Amateurs also use APRS for use with Geocaching (H11). Geocaching is a scavenger hunt where people use a GPS unit to find treasures outside (H11). Echolink can be used as an alternative to equipment. Echolink is a software program, which hams can use to listen to and transmit audio over the Internet (H10). Echolink works by using a computer and Internet connection with a radio to listen to the repeater, an d to constantly transmit audio over the Internet via Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) technology to the end-user (H12). The same happens in reverse, when an end-user transmits they use VOIP technology to get to the computer, and the computer transmits audio to the radio, which the radio transmits audio to the repeater. With Echolink, licensed operators can get on other repeaters and listen and transmit on them as well (H12). There are conferences which are groups that can handle large amounts of users. These are server-based groups that are basically a middle-man or main group which people, links, repeaters, or other conferences can connect to (H12). Internet Radio Link Project (IRLP) is almost exactly like Echolink, except that it is made mainly for connecting only repeaters to repeaters via VOIP, and not for desktop clients (H10). Logging ones contacts for a record is important as well. There also is logging software which can log stations that amateurs have made contact with ( H10). Mostly logging is used with High Frequencies (HF) because of contesting. It is an easy way to keep track of one’s data to send QSLs to (H10). Amateurs may also use an online log book, called Log Book of the World (LBW). This is useful for contacts that are in other countries (H10). If an amateur were to send QSL postcards to everyone whom they have had contact with in other countries, it would get really expensive, really fast (H10).

US Welfare System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 4250 words

US Welfare System - Essay Example Its objectives were to provide monetary aid to impoverished families; end the generation to generation cycle of welfare dependency by encouraging marriage, job training and employment; reducing the number of children who are born out-of-wedlock while encouraging family units that contain two parents. TANF â€Å"tightens benefit eligibility criteria by implementing a five-year lifetime limit on receiving benefits, invoking stricter work and education requirements to qualify for benefits and strengthening the enforcement of child support obligations† (Keng, Garasky & Jensen, 2000). TANF and the welfare system as a whole has been the subject of much debate for many years regarding not only how, but if, it should be implemented. This discussion examines the U.S. welfare system including its history, the issues surrounding it, documents the failures and successes which have resulted and attempts to appreciate the cultural aspects regarding the reasons ethnic groups are more likely to receive welfare benefits. Additionally, the U.S. welfare system is compared to those of other developed countries in an effort to contextualize the subject. The U.S. welfare system was, from early on, derived from the concepts of the ‘poor laws’ of sixteenth century Europe. Welfare policies have been begrudgingly sanctioned so as to give aid to those deemed ‘worthy’ of public assistance. Its intimidating guidelines are widely thought to be based upon racial and gender connotations to distinguish those that are not ‘worthy’ of such assistance. The U.S. welfare system is â€Å"designed to teach a broader lesson to all who observed [its] rituals [and] a lesson about the moral imperative of work and the fate that would befall those who shirked† (Piven, 1998, p. 74). The welfare system in the U.S. has developed in three stages. The first resemblance of welfare models were created from the

Hell-Heaven Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Hell-Heaven - Essay Example Aparna was â€Å"even in her bleakest hours of homesickness she was grateful that my father had at least spared her a life in the stern house of her in-laws, where she would have had to keep her head covered with the end of her sari at all times and use an outhouse that was nothing but a raised platform with a hole† (DiYanni 350). Aparna’s husband and she were thrown together by chance. This part of her life was one of her metaphorical Hells. a release for Aparna. Since the outings were supervised by the narrator, Aparna’s husband felt â€Å"freed from the sense of responsibility he must have felt for forcing her to leave India† (DiYanni 351). Although the narrator did not realize it at the time, she later came to the realization that â€Å"It is clear to me now that my mother was in love with him† (DiYanni 351). Aparna had more in common with Pranab Kaku than with her husband. For example, â€Å"They had in common all the things she and my father did not: a love of music, film, leftist politics, poetry† (DiYanni 350). This relationship was Aparna’s Heaven. Another Hell for Aparna was the foreign atmosphere of America. Even in America Aparna wore Indian clothes. The narrator wrote, â€Å"given that my mother was wearing the red and white bangles unique to Bengali married women, and a common Tangail sari† (DiYanni 348). Aparna clung to her old Indian ways. She constantly chided Usha about the Bengali ways. Aparna admonished, â€Å"Don’t think you’ll get away with marrying an American, the way Pranab Kaku did† (DiYanni 356). The balancing act of raising an Indian daughter in America was Hell for Aparna. Bangladesh was Heaven for Aparna. That is why Aparna fell in love with Pranab Kaku, not for who he was, but what he represented. Pranab Kaku reminded Aparna of â€Å"cheerful songs of courtship, which transformed the quiet life in our apartment and transported my mother back to

Relevance of exchange rates in monetary policy making Essay

Relevance of exchange rates in monetary policy making - Essay Example These actions may include increasing bank interest rates or decreasing the supply of money in the economy. The chief aims of such monetary policy are currency stability or price stability, achieving full employment and economic prosperity of a nation (Zettelmeyer & Zettelmeyer, 2003). Monetary policy rests on the correlation between interest rates of an economy and the total supply of money in the economy. It is natural that governments play a primary role in economic growth and stability through monetary policy especially in small rich economies. By creating monetary policies, central banks can influence the intensity of the supply of money on credit in the economy and, therefore, minimize extreme price fluctuations and improve economic growth. This control is made easier through clear knowledge of the monetary exchange rate that a country chooses to adopt (Jung, Choi & Jung, 2003). Relevance of exchange rates in monetary policy making Concisely, exchange rate refers to the rate at which one country’s money can be changed for another, that is, the price of one country’s currency in another country’s currency. Exchange rate is used when converting one currency to another or for engaging in foreign exchange market. The factors that influence exchange rates include political stability, inflation and interest rates. Nevertheless, exchange rate can, by itself, influence certain factors such as inflation and policy formulation and implementation (Ireland, 2008). For small economies and certain medium ones that are still very open to capital flows and trade, any changes in the value of exchange rate have a vital influence on the real economy or inflation. For successful pursuit of macro-economic stability and achievement of sustainable growth, prudent choices of exchange rate regime and appropriate policies are imperative (Ireland, 2008). The exchange rate and price stability of a nation's monetary value define its economy. Iceland, for example, although is a small country, has enjoyed a long period of stability of economic prosperity with unemployment falling to near zero level. Iceland is an ideal and extreme example of a small open economy. Iceland has a population of 300,000 with a GDP of 8.5 billion USD. Like other economies, Iceland also faces trade and economic problems such as market fluctuations and terms of trade that makes it vulnerable. However, Iceland is endowed with a huge chunk of natural resources with a highly educated labor force and well established economic policies. The paramount indicator of stern overheating of an economy is inflation and Iceland picked it (Breedon, Petursson, & Rose, 2011). However, the key to controlling inflation is good management of the exchange rate and its coordination with fiscal policy (Jung, Choi & Jung, 2003). Several available models of exchange-rate determination entail an unambiguous effect of monetary policy. According to Argy, Grauwe and Polak (1990), this is explaine d in terms of money aggregates on the exchange rate where any increased rate of monetary growth in one country, against the surroundings of a stable claim for money tends to decline the nominal exchange rate. Most theoretical models predict that, in the end, an increase in one country’s money growth wholly reflects in the price level with the relative increment in the latter counteracted by depreciation of the exchange rate. When implementing a monetary policy care must be taken to ensure that the taxpayers do not lose much of their money (Zettelmeyer & Zettelmeyer, 2003). In the long run, countries with moderately rapid money expansion will lean towards having high nominal interest rates, as well as high inflation. However, in short

Canadian Politics. Position of women in the work place and Essay

Canadian Politics. Position of women in the work place and globalization - Essay Example However, when the Royal Commission on the Status of Women (RCSW) practically assessed the ground reality of the severity and employment challenges faced by women, the Commission concludes that the â€Å"position of women employees in the Government of Canada deserves close examination, not only because the Government employs a large number of women in a different variety of occupations, but also because the Government’s employment practices should demonstrate its principles†( RCSW, p.108). Since then, Canadian women have started experiencing some forward movement toward equality in the workplace and simultaneously, the public opinion tends to percept that women’s employment issues are by and large â€Å"solved† internationally as well ( UN, 2004,p.25). However, much is still required to be changed as such notions are perhaps overstated. The findings of the International Angus Reid poll surveyed that the employment markets in the developed nations such as A ustralia, Canada, United States and Great Britain found that less than a quarter of total respondents did not disagree that the gender equality in the developed nations have considerably achieved its required level; however, a majority of women in these four countries provided their consent that the governments in their respective nations ought to do more to gain the point of actual gender equality (Angus Reid, 2010). Additionally, in the same findings, Angus Reid (2010) accounts for the Canada’s ranking in the Global Gender Gap Report, which is annually published by the World Economic Forum. Canada’s current position, 31st in 2008, at number 20 is considerably lower than its previous rankings of 7 in 2005, 14 in 2006 and 18 in 2007. Prior to these facts, the Employment Equity Act was enacted into the legislature with its intent to achieve workplace equality so that no person shall be denied employment opportunities or employment benefits for reasons other than ability and, in appropriate achievement of goal, and to correct the situations and conditions of disadvantage in employment faced and experienced by aboriginal persons, women and people with disabilities and members of visible minorities by providing effect to the principle that employment equity means more than treating persons in the same way but also needs special measures and accommodation of differences (Employment Equity Act). Consequently, the original Employment Equity Act was passed in 1986 by the Progressive Conservative Government in response to the findings and recommendations of the Abella Commission. It came into force in 1987 requiring both federally regulated companies and Crown corporations having 100 or more employees are required to determine and develop equity programs and plans to eliminate workplace barriers to the participation of the above mentioned groups. The progress on the equity programs seems to be limited in scope and domain. The most improvement in employmen t tends to be for non-disabled, white women (Agocs, 2002; Leck & Saunders, 1992). In addition, while taking into account women having dual status as women with a disability or women of color, the findings have hinted that the employment equity programs seem to be affiliated with more representative hiring of women with dual status into employment in the clerical positions (Leck & Saunders,1992, p.216). Furthermore, the 2009 Senate Committee on Human Rights highlight the fact that the little data is provided to indicate whether or not recruitment rates, retention rates, representation rates or executive advancement rates offer difference for women and men within these designated groups: Aboriginal, visible minorities, and

Managing change at bingham business college Essay

Managing change at bingham business college - Essay Example Having said that, Stacey (2011, p.27) cautions that â€Å"the particular explanation one adopts directly affects the particular account one gives of any phenomena, including those to which the concepts of strategy and organisational change apply†. Thus this interpretation is partial and not objective, which is not how business situations should be viewed. The correct business approach to problem solving is represented in the rational decision-making process described by Miller et al (1996): Figure 1: Rational Decision Making Model (Source: based on Miller et al, 1996, p.76) This appears to be the approach taken by Snook when devising his new system. However, what he perceives as a problem is not necessarily a problem. His issue is how the Central Records Office appears to those outside of the Office, with data security and the impact of anticipated increases in student numbers seemingly secondary to his primary impression of the Office as being unprofessional. He wants the Col lege to appear professional and the Office to appear the same as part of that. He makes several assumptions about the original Office set-up, including it is inefficient (â€Å"it must be, it’s a mess†) and that a fundamental restructuring is needed. He ignores evidence showing the Office has been operating at 120% capacity, using the original system, that he doesn’t like, and proceeds with his ideas without advising the Office staff of the potential for additional student enrolments or asking them for their views on how the Office might need to change to deal with this. At no point has he actually discussed his opinion of the Office with the staff, which might have averted the crisis that now exists. He even ignores the warning from his â€Å"expert† that the Head of Central Records would not be comfortable with the proposals, projecting his own preferences onto Fearne to justify his decision. Ignoring Roberts’ point, when it is made by someone wh o has been at the College for some time and therefore knows how things operate both formally and informally, is a major error of judgment on the part of Snook, who has only been in post for a matter of months. A Learning Organisation Perspective A learning organisation is one that â€Å"encourages and facilitates the learning and development of people at all levels of the organisation, values the learning and simultaneously transforms itself† (Mullins, 2010, p.827). Stacey (2010, p.99) looks at different approaches to strategy, stating that one belief is that â€Å"an organisation’s strategic development could be better understood as arising in processes of learning†. Organisations become what they are due to â€Å"the quality of their learning processes†, with organisational leaders required to â€Å"design learning processes and inspire effective learning† (ibid). Fearne would argue the learning experience for her and her team is one of how not t o manage change. Snook’s imposition of the change indicates he does not consider the College to be a learning organisation, nor does he consider the Office staff have any knowledge which could be useful to him in redesigning the Office systems. He also believes the staff do not need development, which could have happened had he involved the staff in the change process. Stacey (ibid) refers to Senge’

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study Essay - 1

Customer satisfaction of fast food services in kuwait a survy study - Essay Example Through the collaboration of Japanese scientists, engineers, governmental officials, and policy makers, along with the works of Deming and Juran, the Japanese developed a management philosophy that later entitled Total Quality Management (TQM) (Walton 1986; Powel 1995). In fact, the concept of quality has evolved from basic manufacturing and engineering-related activities to a philosophy that encompasses all organizational activities and processes. What today is defined as TQM has its origin in the ideas of quality gurus (Deming, Juran, Crosby, Feigenbaum, Ishikawa) whose primary goals were customer satisfaction and continuous improvement. Despite the number of articles and studies, TQM is an ambiguous concept (Dean & Bowen 1994). The differences between the various frameworks proposed by quality experts and scholars have contributed to the ambiguity of TQM definition, concepts, and constructs. Differences are due to the fact that different people have different understanding of the term â€Å"quality,† and, in that regard, the way they define quality may result in different constructs and models for TQM. This chapter presents a review of the total quality management and customer satisfaction literature. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a clear picture of total quality management, its components, and definition as well as overall customer satisfaction. The concept of TQM is explored within a global context and then expounded upon by offering operational definition as well as dealing with the subject within the context of customer satisfaction in the fast food industry. The concept of TQM has the same vagueness as the definition of â€Å"quality.† As Reed et al. (1996) indicated, there is no consensus on the definition for TQM. TQM definitions vary based on the approach taken towards quality. Flynn et al. (1994) defined TQM as: â€Å"An integrated approach to achieving and sustaining high quality output, focusing on the maintenance and

USA in the 21st century Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

USA in the 21st century - Essay Example Additionally, the development of nuclear weapons and the need to gain world wealth has necessitated many states to be more involved in war to show their might against other states. Many nations are struggling to survive in a world dominated by military power and technological development of nuclear weapons. Although, the nations claim existence of democracy and that international relations can be enhanced there are nations that advocate ruling the rest of the world through the wealth and military power. Any nation that tries to compete with the superpowers is attacked indirectly. Therefore, the 21st century world is likely to be dominated by wars in struggle for survival and supremacy. The 21st century is likely to be war prone because of the struggle for super powers among world nations. According to Mearshein, he came up with a number of assumptions that explain why the structure of international relations is made up of nations who have selfish gains for their own states rather than to the world as a whole1. As a result, the great power nations around the world seek for supremacy, maximum wealth, dominion over land and nuclear superiority. To gain their superpowers the great nations have embarked on â€Å"war, blackmail, bait and bleed, bloodletting, balancing and buck passing†2. Mearshein came up with a number of assumptions explaining paths nations pursue to become superpowers. The first reason is that the international relations is anarchic3. ... Even though states try to live in harmony, aggressiveness against another state can originate from nowhere leading to war. This therefore, has necessitated most states to stay alert and not to trust neighboring nations. Most nations strive for survival with diverse intentions in mind. The need for supremacy, wealth, military power and land has resulted to a number of cases of war. States that are continuing to grow in wealth than the superpowers are now involved in cold wars. States with nuclear weaponry mighty are also in disagreements with superpowers and wars may ensue any moment. The struggle is therefore, real with the super power nations wanting to remain superior, and other nations struggling to get to the level of super power nations. The 21st century is likely to be affected by war, because of the existence of fear in international politics. According to Tang, many states are faced with fear of the future5. Therefore, most states are striving for survival against the fear by leading in wars and being informed of what is happening in other states. States around the world are uncertain of the intentions of other nations. They do not know if they want to attack or if they are developing nuclear weapons. Thus, the uncertainty results to most states being alert and developing their military base, to ensure they are ready for any attacks that may take place. Moreover, most states have their own goals in ensuring they attain supremacy over other states. Nations only work together when they are faced with a common enemy. According to Tang, in international theory cooperation among nation state is practiced when the nations are facing a common enemy. Each state has its own personal gains when they advocate to be involved in war6. The

Roderigo and Othello Essay Example for Free

Roderigo and Othello Essay The film adaptation of the play Othello by William Shakespeare is a very successful movie tie-in of this piece of classic literature that has been around for decades. Othello is one of Shakespeare’s renowned masterpieces, a love story which ends up as a tragedy. Although it is said that a truly faithful adaptation of a novel or a work in a different medium is not really possible, this movie gives a significant example of an adaptation that gives a fairly faithful reproduction of the play’s storyline. In Act I Scene 1 of the play, the first scene shows Roderigo and Iago arguing about the former’s failure in winning Desdemona’s heart despite Iago receiving a substantial amount from Roderigo, and that now, alas, Othello and Desdemona have gotten married. In the movie, this scene appears later on as the process of intersecting is employed. The first few scenes of the film portray a seemingly illicit tryst which takes place in the night, a court meeting of leaders, and a marriage between a white woman and a black man which is sealed with a kiss. It is only after these sequences are presented that the argument between Iago and Roderigo is shown, that is, after initially establishing the background of why the argument between them came about. Intersecting is also seen in the way Iago and Othello are shown in the film as conniving to kill both Desdemona and Cassio. This is further dramatized when they seal their partnership with a blood compact as illustrated in the movie a few moments before Othello promotes Iago to become his lieutenant. Somehow, this sequence also hints at the possible homosexual tendencies of Iago – as he says the lines: â€Å"I am your own forever† while glancing lovingly at Othello, thereby giving the viewer an idea of the reasons behind Iago’s actions. And then again, towards the end of the film, when Othello has already been disarmed, Cassio is shown secretly handing over a knife to his former master, perhaps giving him a way to escape his inopportune fate. In a way, this just demonstrates that Cassio is indeed a loyal servant of Othello, which the latter realizes quite late, because of the misplaced trust which he establishes with Iago. But then, again, this only gives Othello the resolve to use this weapon to end his life because of what he did to his wife. On the other hand, Act I Scene 2 depicts Iago warning Othello that Brabanzio may propose a divorce, followed by Cassio’s arrival to inform Othello that he is being summoned by the Duke, and then the confrontation scene between Brabanzio and Othello. The movie adaptation resorts to the process of borrowing this time, as these scenes are shortened, and somehow compressed, but still altogether included. The presentation was altered in some way, and yet the essence of this sub-plot was captured in a short screen time of approximately 2 minutes. The same is notable in Act II Scene 1 when a storm supposedly takes place which facilitates the defeat of the Turks. The troops at Cyprus were getting worried because of Othello’s delayed return, and this is highlighted in the play. In the movie, however, these scenes are downplayed, condensed and merely narrated, yet still included in the plot. The apprehensiveness of Desdemona about the delayed return of her husband was not much felt, and yet the beginnings of Iago’s plot to create a tapestry of lies around Cassio and Desdemona’s possible relationship was given more emphasis. This somehow served to draw attention to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship and how from a very ideal union, it soured to become a misfortune. Some other ideas which were borrowed from the original play and incorporated into the movie adaptation were Desdemona’s handkerchief and how it became the object of jealousy, the foreboding song â€Å"Willow† and Othello’s fit of epilepsy. Alternatively, in the last scene of Act I, Brabanzio relates his dilemma to the Duke about his daughter being stolen from him with the use of witchcraft, pointing to Othello as the person who committed this act. Othello is given the chance to explain, which is later on confirmed by Desdemona herself. Thus, Othello’s marriage becomes justified and the explanation narrated by the accused was well-taken by the Duke. After arriving at a resolution to their squabble, Othello is sent to Cyprus on a mission, and Desdemona requests the Duke to allow her to join her husband having been just married. All these sequences are displayed in the movie version and are accurately presented as the film further unfolds, and can easily be described as illustrating fidelity of transformation. Likewise, the scenes pertaining to Iago and the numerous ways by which he portrayed his role of the antagonist in this movie are well-represented. The actor who played the character of Iago was definitely hateful as the traitor friend to Roderigo and Othello, an effective manipulator of people, and an outstanding liar to almost everyone in the cast. Iago definitely abhorred Othello, but in both the play and the film, the underlying reason for this hatred is not delved upon and up until the end, Iago does not apologize for his misdeeds. Although reference to Iago’s suspicions about Othello’s possible involvement with his wife Emilia are left out and never tackled, as well as Iago’s secret lustful desires for Desdemona as cited in the play, the main plot pertaining to Othello and Desdemona’s relationship and the complications that transpire, was truthfully demonstrated and adhered to. Fidelity of transformation is also seen in the way Act II Scene 3 is presented in the movie since all the essential scenes in the play are also recounted from the time Cassio assumes guardship at Cyprus while Othello consummated his marriage to Desdemona, to the brawl with Roderigo, up to the time Cassio is stripped off his rank after engaging in a duel with Governor Montano. Iago’s soliloquys were also retained, further rendering the film as a precise reproduction of this classic literary piece. It is also noticeable that the clown in Act III Scene 1 and the whole of Scene 2 were dropped, but since the main plot about Othello’s love story was still retained, it did not have a significant effect on the main storyline. From Act III Scene 3 up to the last act and scene, the complications of Othello’s jealousy over the imagined relationship of his wife Desdemona with his lieutenant Cassio are gradually revealed and given more weight. It is apparent that the director of the film wanted to focus on the tragedy in the story more than any other of the play’s sub-plots, hence, more than half of the movie’s running time was devoted to the conflict building up – conflict based on the context of â€Å"man against man† and â€Å"man against himself†, up until the story’s climax and gloomy ending. Othello’s jealousy was more imagined than real but it was lamentable because he allowed Iago to exploit and manipulate his thoughts and feelings for Desdemona, which was effectively portrayed and delivered to the viewer in this film. As a whole, the movie version of Othello was a success as an adaptation due to the use of different types of approaches in its presentation. The essential portions of the play were retained, and the translations and transposition of scenes and sequences did not affect the plot so much because the story’s progression was clear and crisp, and the original dialogues retained for the most part. The plot of the movie adhered to Othello and Desdemona’s love story in the play, which was captured as poignantly as it should have been staged before a live audience. With this trend of transforming the play into a more accessible and readily available type of media catering to the mass audience, it will not be surprising to see more such adaptations in the offing. Works Cited Barron, D Parker, O. 1995. Othello. United Kingdom United States: Columbia Pictures.

Introduction Of Literature Review Nursing Essay

Introduction Of Literature Review Nursing Essay Literature review is a body of text that determines the aim to review the critical point of current knowledge including substantive findings as well as theoretical and methodological contribution to a particular topic (Wikipedia). Another definition of literature review is a literature reviews is a critical search for an analytical framework, or framework which you can put to work to test the hypothesis or to systematically investigate a set of issue (Jancovicz 2000, page 178). Literature review is a secondary source that combined with number of articles which have similar objective to form up a literature review. The numbers of articles were multitudinous cross-cultural journals, books, conferences and electronic sources of information. Therefore, literature review do not report any new experimental work, it is the review of an abstract accomplishment. Literature review able to help readers to understand the historical findings from other authors, its objective, it gives readers a draft to understand what was going on from the historical to now as well as telling the reader regarding the strengths and weaknesses of studies within the body. The following are the reasons to write a literature review: Distinguishing what has been done from what needs to be done Discovering important variables relevant to the topic Synthesizing and gaining a new perspective Identifying relationships between ideas and practice Establishing the context of the topic and problem Rationalize the significance problem Enhancing and acquiring the subject vocabulary Understanding the structure of the subject Relating ideas and theory to applications Identifying of the main methodologies and research techniques that have been used Placing the research in a historical context to show familiarity with state-of-the-art development Michael J Baker Writing literature review is important because it can avoid making same mistakes as other people did. As when reading the articles, sometimes may find out the errors or the some outdated information, thus, writer able to filter the information gained and amend it in his or her own articles. Furthermore, writing literature review can help to increase your breadth of knowledge in your subject area. When being allocated to do a research, writer has to understand the objective of the research first before start any findings or surveys. Writer need to read numbers of articles to comprehend the subject area in order to figure out what has been done by prior authors and what have to jot down in current research. After read the multi cross-cultural journals or books, writer has gained the knowledge in the particular area. From reading articles written by other authors, reader can improve his or her skills in linking his or her own ideas to the theories to applications and identify what resea rch methodology to be used in the current research either questionnaire, interviews, case studies, observational trial, experiment and so on. In doing a researchs literature review, writer has to going outside to contact experts in the particular field to gain other knowledge, information, ideas before he or she start to write anything. The Importance of Literature Review There are few types of literature review which are narrative, systematic and meta-analytic reviews. Narrative literature review in overall is the standard review of the literature, critically appraise and summarize the literature relevant to an identified topic (Hemingway Brereton 2009). This type of literature review is integral the points from the number of articles and presented as background reading immediately. This kind of literature review tend to begin its selected topic with explanation of the rationale and by providing some theoretical or historical framework for the research paper and the reasons to examining studies relevant to the topic (Baun McMurray-Schwarz 2007). Another type of literature review is systematic literature review sometimes referred as best-evidence synthesis or practice based research synthesis (Dunst 2009). This type of literature review is a thorough, comprehensive, transparent and unbiased review of the literature undertaken according to a clearly defined and systematic approach (Aveyard 2010; Neely et al., 2010). Systematic literature reviews are lengthy processes that involve a focused cross-disciplinary search strategy with clearly stated criteria for inclusion and exclusion of the literature (Berkeljon Baldwin, 2009). Moreover, there is one more type of literature review which is meta-analytic review. Meta-analytic review sometimes known as quantitative systematic review, provide a statistical review approach to measure the effect size and the aggregate studies relevant to the research question (Sun, Pang Wang 2010; Vetter, 2003). According to Humphrey (2011) stated that meta analysis should also provide readers with perspective so that findings are interpreted in a meaningful ways. Other than that, Neely et al (2010) said that Every meta-analysis is based on underlying systematic review, but not every systematic review lead to meta-analysis. A research project is the make for informing or telling people with new knowledge or discovery. Literature review is important because it is a part of paper where researcher will be given an opportunity to strengthen the research paper by putting citation what other reliable authors had said about your topic. To putting citation in the research paper is for the purpose of to proving that writer is not just writing about any random subject but that many others have also poured their thoughts on the topic (Admin 2009). If without literature review which is no other reliable authors talking about the topic, it is only containing writers opinions about the fact that writer has discovered through his or her research. If the research project is just only contain with writers opinion, then how to further convince the readers? In this case, who will scrutinize writers research paper as he or she does not put any reliable evidence from previous authors who doing the same research in the parti cular field? Therefore, this is the need that is answered only by the literature review (Admin 2009). Simply by the fact that writer is using referencing by citing what more credible people had say about the topic will build a stronger foundation for your paper (Admin 2009). According to the University of Western Sydney (2010), states that literature review is important to build knowledge and to identify the methodology of research and seminal that work in the particular field that writer involve to. Moreover, literature review help writer to focus and refine the research question by convey the knowledge gap (University of Western Sydney, 2010). Literature review is to discover the problem of study however the problem of study can be solved by collection of data. It is important to know that what the researcher doing and how he or she worked from reading their research papers and the current researcher should not to duplicate the works done by previous researcher. Furthermore, by writing literature review, it able to help researchers to improve their research design and instrumentation, which not successful at last time (Cottrell McKenzie 2011). According to Leary (2004), states that a well created literature review establishes creditability of the researcher of the study, so he can get the entire benefit of his work. Literature review is important because it is to judge the research question and to deliver latest research material for readers. Procedures of Writing a Literature Review The procedures of writing a literature review include: Define the topic or research question Identify the relevant information: Inclusion or exclusion criteria and keywords Conduct the literature research Screen all and exclude the irrelevant studies Scrutinize the relevant studies Extract data and develop graphic organizers Synthesize the findings Develop conclusion and recommendations Rhoades Define the Topic or Research Question This is the initial step of start writing a literature review. During this step, it involves defining the specific topic and clear statement or review objectives or research question (Neely et al., 2010). The topic should be the researcher know enough about to determine whether it is viable researchable topic (University of South Australia). Successful applications usually outline a well-defined research problem or area of focus linked to a body of literature that discusses some of the issues relevant to the proposed topic (University of South Australia). According to Aveyard (2010), stated that a good research question acts as a guide, clearly providing focus structure for the literature review process. Identify the Relevant Information: Inclusion or Exclusion Criteria and Keywords After determine which topic to be organized, the next procedure is to identify the relevant information. By identifying the relevant information, researcher has to discuss a series of inclusion and exclusion criteria because the criteria have to fit with their review question and or the brief given by whoever is funding the project (Information and Computer Sciences). During doing the research and collecting the relevant information, researcher has to be cautious of any bias, be subjective, because researcher might introduce his or her bias into the review by adding certain inclusion or exclusion criteria. For example limiting to studies in English may miss important studies published in other languages (Information and Computer Sciences). Other than that, all decisions taken to include or exclude certain studies or groups of studies should be documented in the methods this way it can be seen that a systematic process has been followed(Information and Computer Sciences). If the researcher is doing dissertation research, the researcher has to show that the reason why chosen the particular topic to focus, and why the researcher has to excluded others. During this stage, the decisions from researcher are normally made by using the titles and abstract of the articles. Those that clearly irrelevant information is filter or exclude in this stage and those criteria which met are included in the review. Conduct the literature research The next step is to conduct the literature search by the identified keywords. Lucas Cutspec (2005) said that the search process involve a combination of many search tactics that include hand searching key journals and books, accessing the many electronic literature databases, investigating reference lists, and scanning the internet via multiple search engines, the latter likely to also include grey literature. Usually during searching process, there are included cross-disciplinary in that studies from various field of specialization. For example, there are numbers of journals within the broad disciplines, such as education, health, medicine as well as family-based and children- based psychology that may relevant to some topic that involving with children hearing loss (Rhoades, 2005). Literature search need to be careful as use of many search engines, electronic database and websites that are necessity for. Screen all and exclude the irrelevant studies When all the journals, articles and papers are accumulated and abstracts are read, then need to classify the potential information that relevant to the research question (Hemingway Brereton 2009). After that screened all the irrelevant studies and exclude it, then screen again the relevant information to ensure the consistent relevant to the research question and all identified variables (Rhoades, 2005). Scrutinize the relevant studies During this step, researcher has to scrutinize the relevant study. Another two independent reviewers have to be ensure that the consistency of the inclusion with the research question and protocol. Extract data and develop graphic organizers Findings from the studies of particular field are extracted from data extraction form which is tabulated data. Visual clarifiers can be acquired and formed from the tabulated data to facilitate knowledge of the similarities and differences between the relevant studies (Rhoades, 2005). There are number of variables extracted from the studies and the graphic organizer has to summarize the importance of the variables and the relationship of the variables with the studies. Rhoades (2005) stated that when data extracted for analysis and synthesis, the different studies may vary considerably. This is about when at this point, the determination is to make as to see the meta-analysis is appropriate or not. During this step, if the reviewers feel that the studies do not provide sufficient evidence, then, it is important to present the findings because lack of evidence to prove that their findings are reliable and it lead difficulty in publishing (Alderson Roberts, 2000). Synthesize the Findings With two independent reviewers, finding from each study are aggregated to produce bottom line on the clinical effectiveness, feasibility, appropriateness, and meaningfulness, of the intervention (Hemingway Brereton, 2009). Thus, the pool of findings is name as evidence synthesis (Rhoades, 2005). If the studies involve quantitative data or include not much of quantitative, meta-synthesis is provided in literature review (Rhoades, 2005). Conversely, if the studies involve sufficient evidence and quantitative data, the meta-analysis is conducted (Hemingway Brereton, 2009). Develop Conclusions and Recommendations This is the last step of the procedures in writing a literature review. During this stage, researcher has to include some introduction regarding the studies, roughly review the overall structure of and the contents from the studies and then drawn conclusion from the findings of both secondary and primary research. The conclusion should state the crucial annotation and cover the strengths and weaknesses of the studies in the particular research. After drawn conclusion, provide some potential impact of the research conducted such as its contribution of knowledge or understanding, its contribution to theory development, its contribution to practice and applicant, and its implication for future research (Baker Foy). Thereafter, indicate some potential recommendation arise from the previous sections in term of the implication of findings (Baker Foy). Other than that, due to all studies have its own strong point and its shortcomings, thus, researcher can state some of the problematic iss ues arise when conducting the findings and what improvement should be done. Therefore, it is significant that researcher develop awareness of the problematic issues noted in the review (Rhoades, 2005). Summary Literature review is a must to put in a research paper when researcher wish to write a research articles because it is essential to know what has been done by previous researchers in that particular studies and figure out what should be do in the current study to correct the mistake and error done by previous researchers. Thus, it is significant to read number of articles, journals, books from many elsewhere to gain knowledge from the particular studies in order to have a draft in mind what should be do. Furthermore, there are number of procedures to follow in order to write a good literature review because it may be read by others people to judge when the paper being published. Therefore, it is crucial to write a precise literature review to avoid mistakes or errors and get teasing by others.

Inventory Management of Nepalese Public Enterprises

Inventory Management of Nepalese Public Enterprises CHAPTER-2 Review of Literature There are many researches made in inventory Management of Nepalese Public enterprises and Private enterprises. Most of them has made on the manufacturing enterprises. In this chapter attempts has been made to present the review of literature regarding inventory management. 2.1 Conceptual Framework Inventory Management The writer (Saxena, 2009, p. 2) defines inventory as any kind of idol resource that has potential economic value considered as locked up capital. Inventory is a list of goods and materials which is available in stock by business (Saxena, 2009). Other write (Li, 2007, p. 175) defines inventory as the stock of any items or resources used in an organization. Stock consists of all goods and materials that are stored by an organization which is kept for future use (Waters, 2003). According to (Roy, 2005, p. 100) inventory is list of goods or items. Inventory management is the active control program which allows the management of sales, purchases and payments (Inventorymanagement). The author (Saxena, 2009, p. 2) refers inventory management as a process of managing raw materials, semi-finished products and finished-products by a firm. The inventory management is a set of the process and policies that determines what inventory level should be maintained, what stock should be replenished and how large order should be (Li, 2007, p. 175). According to (Toomey, 2003, p. 1) inventory management is a branch of business management which concerned in planning and controlling inventories. Effective stock management means providing the desired stock service level or maximizing your profit while at the same time keeping your total stock costs as low as possible by; Selecting products that initially sell, well and discontinuing those that stop selling. Purchasing the right quantity (how much to buy) Purchasing at the right time (when to buy) Keeping your total inventory investment in balance with the expected levels of sales To control costs and improve profit, it is necessary to actively manage every asset we own. And it is particularly true of the management of goods and material we buy and keep on land either far our own use or for resale. The goal of inventory management is to increase profit on inventory while increasing customer services (Frazelle, 2002, p. 91) The dictionary meaning of inventory is stock of goods or a list of goods. Various authors define the word inventory in their ways. In accounting language may mean stock of finished goods. In a manufacturing concern, it may include raw materials, work in process and stores. To understand the exact meaning of inventory the word inventory we may study it form the usage side and from the point of entry in the operation Among the different aspects of management, inventory management is also one of the major factors to play significant role in management of material , part supplies, expenses tools , working process, finished products and then record on the books and maintenance of store rooms, warehouses by an organization is known as inventory management . 2.2 Nature of Inventory The company holds different kinds of inventories to obtain their goals (Waters, 2003). Basically we can divide inventory into three parts which are following, Raw material Work in progress Finished goods (Toomey, 2003, pp. 20-21) Raw Material The stocks or inventories and purchase parts which is not part of manufacturing process is called raw material (Toomey, 2003). Raw materials are those basic inputs that have to be gone through the different process to convert into finished goods. Raw materials inventories are such kind of inventories which have been purchased and stored for future manufacturing process. Raw materials are hold in store by manufacturing company to smooth running of production process. The author defines raw material as those kinds of stocks which is imported from suppliers and are store until needed for manufacture (Waters, 2003, p. 9). Work in progress Work in progress refers to inventory units that are currently being worked on (Waters, 2003, p. 9). Work in progress inventories are neither a finished product nor raw materials. It is middle of raw materials and finished product. The author (Toomey, 2003, pp. 20-21) defines work in progress (WIP) inventories are those kinds of inventories which are in different phase of completion throughout the manufacturing process. It is very difficult to separate which materials are WIP and which are not. Because the same materials may be a raw material in one industry and same material may be a WIP as well as finished goods in other industry. It depends upon nature of production. Finished goods The finished goods inventory represents products that are ready for sale. According to (Toomey, 2003, pp. 20-21) finished goods are those items which are awaiting shipment to customers. Finished goods inventories includes all the completed products which going to be sold (Muller, 2003, pp. 19-20).These are goods fully manufactured inspected and ready for dispatch to a customer. In manufacturing firm, these are the final output of the production process. Stocks of finished goods are held by manufacturing and non-manufacturing company for market operation. 2.3 Purpose of inventory Inventory is the most important to all manufacturing organization in todays industrial world and it plays vital role to exist the company. So it is necessary to manage it properly because both situations of inventories either excessive or inadequate are not acceptable to the firm. There are two larger points within which the firm should operate. The objective of inventory management should be to determine and maintain optimum level of inventory investment. The optimum level of inventory will lie between two danger points of excessive and inadequate inventories. According to (Wild, 2002, p. 7) the propose of the inventory management function in supporting in the business activities is to optimize the three sectors customer services, inventory cost and operating cost. The author refers about purpose of inventory like this the inventory is created when supply excesses the demand. The main purpose of holding the inventory in the company is to prevent from shortage of raw materials, expected demand, to gain more profit (Li, 2007, p. 176). Firm should always aware from over investment or under-investment in the inventories. Over investment and under investment in inventory is unhealthy for the company. Due to over investment into inventory, makes unnecessary tie-up and the amount which we cant invest in other purpose, increasing carrying costs, risk of liquidity. Excessive carrying costs will directly effect in the company profit. Due to over inventories; it may not be possible to sell them in time and at full value. Similarity, WIP is far more difficult to sell because as we said before WIP is not finished goods. In the same way finished goods inventory should sold at low prices due to fall in the price in market and the seasonal factors. So, more investment in inventories is harmful to producer/company. It should be cut down. Similarly, under investment in inventories also not good for company. It carries some problems such as production hold-ups, frequent production interruptions. If finished goods are not sufficient, we do not meet the customers demand and our goodwill also loss. Thus, the objectives of inventory management should be neither excessive nor inadequate level of inventories but maintaining sufficient inventory level for the smooth production and sales operations. An optimum level of inventory should be determined on the basis of the trade-off between costs and benefits. The various importance of inventory management can be summarized up as follows: Predictability Unreliability of supply Price protection Lower ordering cost Anticipated demand 2.7 Procedure of Inventory Management These are lot of function have to be done For the achievement of its objectives business performs a wide variety of function, namely production, marketing, personnel, office research and development of these production and marketing are basic operating functions in a typical business enterprise. Marketing is concerned with the demand side of goods and services, while production is concerned with the supply side. One cannot exist without other; however, decisions about the production activities constitute one of the most important functions of the top management. Production is concerned with the provision of goods and services for the satisfaction of the customer wants. Therefore the consumer depends upon the good economical and efficient production system good inventory management there should be used different activities in ought procedure or manner. General activities such as purchasing, receiving, store-keeping and issuing and pricing are the procedure of inventory management. The y are described as follows: 2.7.1 Purchasing Purchasing is the fulcrum when it comes to meeting customer demands (Johnson, 2010) . Purchasing is the most important function of inventory management to select the suppliers, because it brings significant saving for the organization (Elanchezhian, et al 2010). All organization need various kinds of input like goods and services form external suppliers. The writers ( Baily, Farmer, Jessop, jones, 2005, pp. 3-4) define purchasing as to acquire right quantity of material, at the right time, in the right quantity, from the right source, at the right price. In simple words purchasing is relate to going the open market finding the require materials at the lowest price and selecting the supplier who offers it at that price having the quality of the materials in minds. In fact the process of inventory management begins with purchasing .The need for particular materials initiates purchasing in a firm. A good purchasing management has played important role in the manufacturing companies. We should pay more attention in the purchasing raw materials, supplies in the right quantity of the right quality from the right origin at the right time and cost. The production is hampered the scarcity of raw materials on time, purchasing department should take grater responsibilities and should analysis the existing procurement policy and should tune with the overall organizational objectives and policies. We can improve management of purchase by the help of standardization, value analysis, material substitution, transportation saving and cost reduction of packing modification. There are the following functions of a purchase department. How to purchase? Where to purchase? How much to purchase? At what price to purchase? To perform there function effectively, the purchase department follows the following procedures Receiving purchase requisition Exploring the sources of supply and choosing of suppliers Preparation and execution of purchase order. Receiving and inspecting materials. Checking and issuing of bills for payment.  [3]   The objectives of purchase department is to arrange the supply of materials, spare parts and services or semi-finished goods required for desired production .Walters observes purchasing functions as ‘The Procurement and Purchase of the proper materials, machinery, equipment and supplies for stores used in the manufacturing of a product adopted to marketing in the proper quality at the proper time and at the lowest price constant with desired. Purchasing now become a specialized function in many organization wasting expenses that Purchasing is a managerial activity that goes beyond the simple act of buying and includes the planning and policy, objectives covering wide range of related and complimentary included in such activities are the research and development required for the proper selection of materials and sources from which these materials may be brought.  [4]   In the words of matter industrial purchasing is The procurement by purchase of Alfred and Beauty .Principles of industrial the proper adopted to marketing in the proper quantity and quality at the proper time and at the lowest price consistently with the quality desired A Purchasing means a policy well planned, Procedures free from much formalities and development of up to date methods and techniques of higher standard to reveal efficiency and economy.  [5]   2.7.2 Receipt and Store Keeping After sometimes of placing the order, flow-up process starts to get quick delivery of the items. The items are received by the purchasing department at the time of delivery and received items are compared with purchase order and actual materials received should be entered in goods received note. Then all items received by the purchasing department should be passed into store for protection against deterioration and pilferage. They are stored in such a way that their location is easily identified at the time of issue The store function involves both keeping the store of materials and keeping the store records, the former being physical task and the later being accounting task depending upon the nature and requirements of the organizations the stores are classified as centralized and decentralized store.  [6]   In the words of Maynard, the duties of store keeping are to receive materials to protect than while in storage from damage and unauthorized removal to issue the materials in the right quantity at the right time , to the right place and to provide these services promptly and at least costs. Good store keeping should help achieve location identification, receipt and issue without delay. Storage space should be economically utilized and materials should be protected against deterioration, fine theft, details of quantities should be available on request. General code numbers are assigned to materials for easy identification. Materials may be stored in bin, rack, drawer, tray, boxes or floor area.  [7]   Store keeping in the activity of receiving or distributing stores or supplies, stores included direct raw materials, indirect materials (supplies) and finished goods  [8]   Generally the physical stock available in the store after counting, weighting , measuring , listing as the case may be is properly recorded by only of the following methods. 2.7.3 Issued and Pricing Materials are kept in stores so that the storekeeper may issue them whenever these are required by the production departments. Materials should be issued on receipt of materials requisition of Bill of materials under proper authority to avoid the misappropriation of materials.  [9]   Materials issued from the stores are debited to the jobs or work orders which received them and credited to the materials account. These jobs are debited with the value of material issued to them.  [10]   Each item inside the inventory has some value associated with it. This value depends on the price duration of the item inside the inventory, procurement cost, storage cost etc. Generally the time of purchase and time of issue of any items are different and the market prices of the items also vary with time. Thus, for costing purposes, the problems of pricing at the time of issue are great signification.  [11]   2.7.4 Cost Basis for Inventory Valuation The primary basis of accounting for inventory is cost which has been defined generally as the price paid to considerate given to acquire an asset. As applied to inventories, cost means in principal the sum of the applicable expenditure and changes directly or indirectly incurred in bringing an article to its existing condition and location.  [12]   Conceptually the process of valuation the inventory is simple. We can calculate inventory value that multiplying physical quantity of goods by cost per unit. But in practice, many organizations purchase different types of raw materials at different price and different time. Price of materials changes time to time. There are many types of raw materials remain in the stock. It is not always possible to identify the individual particular purchase group. At the solution firms have faced difficulties in valuation the inventories. In this situation there are many methods which are based on historical cost used in determining the value of inventory are: a. First In First Out Method Under the First In First Out method the units are assumed to have been disposed of in the order in which they were acquired and the units remaining are assumed to be those which were acquired last. This assumption is realistic in that good merchandising requires that older stock be moved to the front and new purchases placed in back of the bin. Consequently the oldest merchandise in sold first, because sales orders are filled from the front of the bins. The last merchandise purchased remains in the inventory.  [13]   b. Last In First Out Method Under this method, the cost of goods sold consists of the cost of the most recently acquired goods, and the ending inventory consists of the cost of the oldest goods which were available for sale during the period.  [14]   This method does not conform to the physical flow of the units of goods but is nevertheless widely used. In periods of steadily rising prices, the inventory value will be at the lower cost of the earliest units acquired. The value of the inventory on the statement of financial position is a conservative one. In the statement of income the cost of goods sold is higher, and when costs increase net income is lower resulting in lower income taxes of course, in periods of falling prices, the results will be opposite, the cost of good sold will be lower and net income will be higher. Under LIFO method, whether costs are rising or falling, the net income over a series of years shows less variation.  [15]  . c. Specific Price or Identification Method Under this method, materials issued to production are priced at their purchase prices. The basic assumption in following this method is that materials in the stores are capable of being identified as belonging to specific lots. Identification can be made by placing some distinguishing mark usually price tag on every lot. When materials are issued, price tags are removed and forwarded to the costing department for ascertaining the material cost of production. This method is simple in its mechanism and operation. This method does not create accounting complications as are associated with the working of FIFO, LIFO and average methods. But this method is useful where job costing is in operation and the actual material issued can be identified. It is also suited to the needs of a small business enterprise when a small number of items of materials are purchased and stored which can be easily identified.  [16]   d. Base Stock Method Each concern always maintains a minimum quantity of material in stock. This minimum quantity is known as safety or base stock and this should be used only when an emergency arises. The base stock is created out of the first lot the material purchased and, therefore, it is always valued at the cost price of the first lot and is carried forward as a fixed asset. This method works with some other method and is generally used with FIFO or LIFO method. Any quantity over and above the base stock is issued in accordance with the other method which is used in conjunction with this method. The objective of this method is to issue the material according to the current prices. This objective will be achieved only when the LIFO method is used together with the Base Stock method.  [17]   2.8 Cost Associated with Inventory There are many cost associated with the size of inventory directly either advocating to decrease the inventory size or suggesting an increase in the inventory size, for an effective inventory analysis and control of the system one should have clear picture about the behavior of cost associated with different factors. Different kinds of costs associated with inventory management are explained below. a. Carrying cost Carrying cost per period, c, represent the cost of inventory storage, handling and insurance, together with the required rate of return on the investment in inventory. These costs are assumed to be constant per unit of inventory per unit of time.  [18]  Cost incurred for maintaining a given level of inventory are called carrying cost. Carrying cost means storing cost. It starts when raw-materials are placed in warehouse and it continuous until finished goods have not produced except production cost. When we carry raw- materials to production spot and there make final product and that final product we carry into stock. In course of carrying to production spot and returned back to warehouse may labor, handling cost, this cost is also included in carrying costs. However the size of inventory increases, the carrying cost also increases. The carrying costs and the inventory size are positively related and move in the same direction. Carrying cost is the first category of inventory management cost which is generally associated proportionally with the average value of inventory.  [19]   Total carrying cost vary in proportion to the value of inventory usually they are computed from the following formula. Total carrying cost = Average inventory * carrying cost per unit Symbolically TCC = Q/2 *C Where, Q = Quantity order size b. Ordering cost Ordering cost represent all of the cost of placing and receiving an order. When a firm is ordering from an external source, these include the costs of preparing the purchase requisition, expediting the order (long-distance calls and follow-up letters), receiving and inspecting the shipment and handling charge. In practice, the cost per order generally contains both fixed and variable components, since a portion of the cost- such as that of receiving and inspecting the order- normally varies with the quantity ordered. Ordering cost may different in the sense of inventories nature. Such as for Raw-materials- ordering cost involves the clerical cost in placing an order as well as certain costs of receiving and checking the goods once they arrive. For finished goods- ordering cost involves scheduling a production run. And for work-in-progress- ordering costs are likely to involve nothing more than record keeping. Ordering cost : the fixed expense in the preparation and execution of an order for goods.  [20]   Ordering cost increase in proportion to the number of orders placed. Thus more frequently the inventor is acquired, higher the firms ordering costs. On the other hand ordering costs decrease with increasing size of inventory. Generally ordering costs involves: Cost of placing an order Requisitioning cost Transportation/shipping cost Receiving, inspecting and storing costs Sales tax, Customs, etc Clearing and forwarding costs Insurance of raw-materials Stationary cost Bank commission/ L.C. charges Telephone/Fax/Postage expense to follow up Cost incurred when raw-materials in transit Firms usually offer discount for purchase materials in large quantity. Such discount helps reduction in the unit price of the items purchases, such facilities encourage buyers to place a fewer orders rather than placing small once Ordering cost is calculated by following formula Ordering cost = Annual Requirement/Quantity order size *Ordering cost per unit Symbolically, TOC = A/Q x O 2.9 Inventory Systems The inventory accounting system can be Periodic System or continuous system. 2.10 Inventory Management Models Push and Pull Models: Inventory management models can be classified either push or pull models: a. Push Inventory Models Push models schedule orders for production or order good in advance or customer demand. Manufactures push the finished products through the distribution channel to intermediaries and the final consumer. Economic Order Quantity (EOQ), Material Requirement Planning (MRPI), Manufacturing Resource Planning (MRIP II) and distribution requirement planning (DRP) are all push models. i. Economic order quantity (EOQ) In an ideal environment, forecasting demand would be easy and straight forward. Simply look at past demand patterns to predict future consumption. Under these conditions, EOQ model can be used to calculate when to order the item and how much to order. The basic EOQ equation is as follows EOQ = √2PD/CV Where, P=Cost of placing one order in rupees D = Annual demand for the product C = Annual inventory carrying cost expresses as a percentage of products cost of value. V = Average cost or value of one unit of inventory ii. Material Requirement Planning (MRPI) MRPI is a computer- based management information system designed to manage dependent demand inventory items in the transformation process of operations management. This computerized inventory system was developed in the 1960s to deal primarily with the timing the tedious record keeping of dependent demand inventory transactions. Many researchers believe that MRP systems historically have made a fundamental software development contribution that has helped cause computer-based system to integrate and therefore aid in the development of computer- integrated manufacturing (CIM) systems.  [21]   One of the most common dependent demand inventory system used in the United States is the managerial requirement planning (MRP) system.  [22]  It supports the planning and control of dependent demand inventory and is most popular in U.S organizations that have substantial dependent demand inventory to manage. It includes any products that are made from dependent demand inventory items such has components or raw materials. MRP processes information for production scheduling and capacity planning as well. As an inventory management system, MRP can be used to plan inventory needs over a fixed planning horizon. Although MRP can plan inventory requirement for a period of from a single day to several years, the information the program generator is usually based on weekly intervals. In MRP terminology, the weekly (or other time period chosen) are referred to as time buckets. One of the primary objectives of an MRP system is provide an adequate supply of dependent demand inventory when required fro production. MRP also seeks to provide useful inventory, production scheduling, and capacity planning information for inventory control proposes. There are two types of MRP systems: Regenerative System: This is a periodic data input system. Under this system, changes in input data are saved until a specific time, such as the end of a week or end of a month. Changes are then run on a group of batch basis. Net-change System This is a continuous data input system. Under this system, changes are immediately entered into the computer. New MRP planning information is then recomputed for all of the elements in the inventory system that are affected by the changes. iii. Manufacturing Resources Planning (MRP II) System The basis MRP system simply handles the materials aspects of production/ operations control. No real account is taken of capacity implications Therefore one more sophisticated system developed in Manufacturing resources planning (MRPII) system  [24]  In addition to producing the detailed material plan, the system can produce detailed capacity plans provided it has the necessary job-routing data and so on. The implementation of these plans allows shop-floor and purchase control to be carried out. MRP II is essentially a computer system. It has been suggested by Oliver Wight that MRP/ MRP II implementations can be classified on a four- point scale, from A to D. Table no . Briefly describes these states. Class Characteristics D MRP working in data-processing department only Poor inventory records Master schedule mismanaged Reliance on shortage lists for progressing C Used for inventory ordering, not scheduling Scheduling by shortage lists Overloaded master schedule B System includes capacity planning, shop-floor control Used to plan production, not manage the business Helps still needed from shortage lists Inventory higher than necessary A Uses closed-loop MRP Integrates capacity planning, shop-floor control, vendor scheduling Used to plan sales, engineering, purchasing No shortage lists to over-ride schedules Most organization implementing MRP/ MRP II are on the path from class D status to class A status. A difficult faced is knowing, in a quantitative sense, where on the path the organization is, and what steps to take to effect improvements. iv. Distribution Requirement Planning (DRP) DRP applies MRP II principles to the flow of finished goods to field warehouses and customers. Although MRP II improved MRP by taking into account both material management and production scheduling. It failed to account for this out bound movement. DRP adjusts ordering patterns of inventory needs vary, responds more readily to system wide inventory needs and better deals with product availability and receipt timing. b. Pull Inventory Model Pull inventory models are based on making goods once customer demand is known . The product is pulled through the channel of distribution by the order. Recent trends suggest a movement to use pull inventory models to reduce inventory throughout the channels. JIT and KanBan are the must widely used pull inventory models. i. KanBan Pull Model The KanBan Mean visual record and is the production control system the uses JIT production system, allowing production with smaller inventories, KanBan is also referred to as card system, a single card KanBan and two card KanBan system. ii. Single Card KanBan The single card kanban system uses only a conveyance (move) kanban and no production kanban. The single card kanban is must common used in Japan.  [25]   iii. Two card KanBan Inventroy is usually controlled at low levels by using a manual two card KanBan system. One card is conveyance KanBan, the requisition and authorization of transferenceof materials form supply center to work center. A second card the production KanBan, authorizes the production of materials. 2